Snorkeling Spots in Florida

Explore Islamorada on a family fun boat tour with the Family Fun Boat Tour Company. The company offers private, guided boat trips that provide exclusive access to some of the best spots in and around Islamorada and the Upper Florida Keys. Conveniently located at Isla Marina on Plantation Key in Islamorada, the family-friendly adventure company offers a range of tours from sightseeing, snorkeling, and sunset cruises to tailor-made eco-tours. Snorkeling tours in Islamorada offer some of the best snorkeling in the world with warm, crystal-clear turquoise and cobalt blue waters teeming with marine life.

A Family Fun Boat Tour Company tours explore the only living coral reef in North America, which is home to more than 50 species of coral and almost 500 species of fish, and all equipment such as masks, snorkels, fins, snorkel vests, and swim noodles (optional) is provided.

85920 Overseas Hwy, Islamorada, FL 33036, Phone: 305-896-2915

Set on the island of Bahia Honda in the lower Florida Keys,Bahia Honda State Park is one of Florida's southernmost state parks and is renowned for its beautiful beaches, excellent snorkeling, and magnificent sunsets. Camping is available at the park at two campsites, namely Buttonwood and Bayside. Buttonwood offers a variety of sites for camping rigs from large RVs to small tents with gravel sites, electricity, water, picnic tables, and grills. The campsite has a bathhouse with restrooms and hot showers, as well as a dump station, and some sites have spectacular ocean views. Bayside is much smaller with just eight campsites, all of which are non-electric but have picnic tables, grills, and water. There is a small restroom nearby, and campers can use the bathhouse at Buttonwood for hot showers.

Monroe County, Florida

Located on the northern side of Hutchinson Island in Stuart, Bathtub Beach is a lovely family-friendly beach with a reef that stretches very close to shore, breaking the waves and keeping the waters close to the beach calm and clear, making it an ideal location for snorkeling and scuba diving. The waters within the reef break are home to over 500 species of marine creatures, including sea turtles and are great for canoeing, kayaking, and fishing. The outer reef is popular with windsurfers, and kiteboarders and the state beach has lifeguards on duty, making it safe for swimming.

1585 SE MacArthur Blvd, Stuart, FL 34996, Phone: 772-221-1418

Biscayne National Park is a spectacular national park that is home to shoreline mangrove forests and uninhabited islands, beautiful coral reefs teeming with marine life, lush sea-grass beds, and aquamarine waters and several shipwrecks.

Accessible only by boat, the pristine reefs in the park offer some of the best snorkeling and scuba diving in the world, including the underwater Maritime Heritage Trail, which has six shipwrecks. Biscayne National Park’s mostly submerged 173,000 acres are home to more than 500 species of fish, including sharks, and rays, as well as jellyfish, crabs, and sea turtles and offer a watery playground for snorkelers, scuba divers, swimmers, and anglers, as well as boaters, windsurfers, and sunset cruises.

Coastline Dolphin & Snorkeling Excursions is a family-owned and operated business that offers guided trips on the beautiful waters of Anna Maria that are home to manatees, dolphins, and a plethora of other marine life. USCG captain certified in CPR and First Aid, Captain Kasay Gunter, takes guests out on his 22-foot sturdy Boston Whaler boat to cruise around the water, stopping for swims and snorkeling excursions along the way. The boat is spacious and dry, and all safety equipment like life jackets, masks, snorkels, fins, and snorkel vests are provided.

12312 Manatee Ave W, Bradenton, FL 34209, Phone: 941-201-8429

Coral Cove Park is a waterfront park with a lifeguard-protected beach near the Indian River in Tequesta that offers excellent swimming, snorkeling, and saltwater fishing. Managed by Palm Beach County Parks and Recreation, the 15-acre park boasts more than 2,000 feet of beachfront, most of which are natural limestone, and 600 feet of Intracoastal waterways frontage. The protected beach and nearby Blowing Rocks Preserve in Jupiter offer excellent snorkeling with coral reefs teeming with marine life such as fish, nurse sharks, eels, sea turtles, and crabs. The beach also has many shells for beachcombers and shell collectors.

19450 County Hwy 707, Tequesta, FL 33469, Phone: 561-966-6600

Dry Tortugas National Parkis a national park in the Gulf of Mexico that preserves the seven Dry Tortugas islands, which are most isolated of the Florida Keys, as well as Fort Jefferson. Located about 68 miles west of Key West, the park is part of the Everglades & Dry Tortugas Biosphere Reserve and a UNESCO site and boasts beautiful coral reefs that are abundant with sea life, several tropical bird breeding grounds, and legends of shipwrecks and sunken treasures (Youtube). The massive but unfinished fortress of Fort Jefferson is the centerpiece of the park and is the brick masonry structure in the Western Hemisphere. The seven islands of the Dry Tortugas are a unique and undisturbed tropical ecosystem with significant historical artifacts and are only accessible by seaplane. Activities in the Dry Tortugas National Park include swimming, kayaking, saltwater fishing, scuba diving, snorkeling, birdwatching, camping, and picnicking.

Enjoy a once-in-a-lifetime experience of swimming with manatees on a customized guided trip with Famous Bird's Underwater Manatee Dive Center. Located directly on King’s Bay and run by Bill “Bird” and Diane Oestreich, who have been operating in the Crystal River area for the past 30 years, the family-friendly dive center offers tailor-made manatee snorkel tours and scuba diving instruction for all skill levels. In addition to snorkeling with manatee trips, the dive center also rents scuba diving equipment, kayaks, scuba diving courses and lessons, and guided kayaking tours of the surrounding waters.

320 US-19, Crystal River, FL 34428, Phone: 352-563-2763

Located in U-Tiki Beach, Florida Shark Diving offers world-class shark diving experiences in one of the top shark diving destinations in the world. Florida Shark Diving is based in Palm Beach, which is home to some of the largest numbers of sharks in the world, including Great Hammerhead, Tiger, Bull, Reef, Sandbar, Dusky, Silky, and Lemon sharks. The adventure company offers two different types of trips that cater guests’ needs – Shark Diving Trips, including cage diving and freediving with sharks and Shark Viewing Trips, where guests can watch the sharks up close from the boat. Trips take place just 30 minutes from the marina location and cater to groups, divers, and families alike.

1095 Florida A1A, Jupiter, FL 33477, Phone: 305-395-9140